Despite having lost the Democratic presidential nomination, "the Bernie revolution" will continue with the "next phase" launching nationwide Wednesday night.

Some 2,600 watch parties and meetings are set to take place across the country tonight as former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addresses thousands of his supporters to "lay out some of the next steps we can take as a movement to empower a wave of progressive candidates this November and win the major upcoming fights for the values we share," according to Our Revolution President Jeff Weaver, who also served as Sanders' presidential campaign manager.

The first-ever nationwide Fight for $15 convention will be held next week in Richmond, Virginia. Low-wage workers will call attention to economic and racial justice issues, including "the enduring effects of slavery on black workers." Progress Illinois talked with a Chicago worker who plans to attend the two-day event.

The Fight for $15 campaign is taking their call for a wage increase and better working conditions to the Chicago suburbs. The workers' rights campaign held a rally at Evanston's Fountain Square over the weekend.

Emboldened by recent Fight for $15 victories in New York and California, speakers called out McDonald's and other low-wage employers, demanding that they at least match Chicago's recent minimum wage increase.

"We all know Evanston is becoming increasingly less welcome to low-income residents by way of rising property values and less affordable housing," said Gabriel Machabanski, of the Open Communities organization. "Equally important, but less emphasized, is the stagnant poverty wages. Chicago has taken action and increased its minimum wage. There's no reason workers on this side of Howard should be making less than $10 an hour."

Illinois Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) also spoke at the event, saying that the economic landscape of the country has changed over the last 30 years, concentrating the distribution of wealth among the elite.

Nursing home workers in Illinois staged a series of protests this week as part of their push for an hourly minimum wage of $15.

The workers are represented by SEIU* Healthcare Illinois and employed by Infinity Healthcare Management.

Workers and their union allies picketed Wednesday through Friday outside nine Infinity Healthcare Management facilities in Chicago and the suburbs, including Bloomingdale, Cicero, Itasca, Niles and Oak Lawn. Nursing home employees rallied at their respective facilities to speak out about their "poverty" wages and working conditions.

The Fight for $15 campaign came out in force Thursday night to protest against McDonald's, Bank of America and Illinois billionaire Ken Griffin. Progress Illinois provides highlights from the downtown demonstration.

A few hundred workers with the Fight for $15 campaign protested Thursday afternoon on Chicago's North Side, where they shut down traffic at the busy intersection of Sheridan Road and Hollywood Avenue. The protest was part of a global day of action being held today by low-wage workers pushing for a $15 minimum wage and union rights.